SOS wild animal vets – episodes 1 & 2 | Case documentaire | France 4

We go behind the scenes with vets who specialise in treating wild animals. Vets and carers take us backstage at the major circuses and their menageries. From the star-spangled ring to the treatment rooms and the zoos, we share the thrilling lives of the new “Daktari”. “Health Safari” to vaccinate the wild animals in a circus before the evening’s show, an express manicure for a takin (a sort of gnu from the Himalayas), a high-pressure surgical intervention to treat a snow leopard with heart trouble (a world first) or psychological support for a male emu in full phantom pregnancy (he broods imperturbably over a large rock). The daily round of SOS Vets – wild animals doesn’t lack danger or excitement. With good reason: these vets like no others treat lions, tigers, lemurs or gorillas in the heart of our cities (in the menageries of the Paris Jardin des Plantes, in vets’ surgeries specialising in circuses or in zoos. All these professionals talk to Patrick Dedole’s camera of their passion and their commitment. More than a simple vocation, their work approaches real spiritual dedication. SOS Vets lifts the veil on these little-known professions that never cease to question our relation with the animal condition.